AW/DELL Ordering Advice - How to save $$$

Okay, just order my M18x today so here's the figures for you all to analyze. I think it is a great deal and it shows you can get good deals from sales reps.

First, I started off with the M18x that is 'on sale' for $250 off what the equipped price should be. What this amounts to is getting 8 GB of ram instead of 6 GB ($75 upgrade value) and getting 2 500 GB 7200 rpm Hdds in Raid 0 rather than the base configuration of 1 500 GB 7200 rpm Hdd ($175 upgrade value).

I was planning on getting just the base 500 GB single Hdd and the base 6 GB RAM but since the upgrades were free I thought "why not!."

So price as configured was $3298 (would have been $3548 if paying for those two upgrades)

Next I got my 2 year basic warranty upgraded to the Advanced version for free ($89 value). Note: I didn't even ask for this, he just offered this.

Next I got $200 (actually $198.74) off the configured price of $3298 so the sub total price was $3099.26 Note: I asked for this, initially I was configuring an M17x and he was going to take $100 off of that so I just flat-out asked for $200 off the M18x to 'seal the deal.'

Next I got a 5% Gift card based upon $3099.26 which is $154.96. Note: He offered this without prompting.

Next I got a $200 Gift card. Note: He offered this without prompting.

Finally I got free next day shipping. I do live in Texas though . Note: I asked for this.

So.....

If I convert the Gift cards to discounts and add the free upgrades to the price and then subtract them back out because they are free it looks something like this:

$3637
-$250
-$89
-$200
-$200
-$154.96

=$2743.04 (doesn't include the value of free next day shipping)

$3637-2743.04= $893.96 in discounts/upgrades/gift cards

$893.96/$3637= 24.58% off listed price!

Not bad if I do say so myself . Sales tax was $255.69, but that is really between me and Texas. I don't think any other Alienware retailer could touch that deal. I plan to use my Gift cards for an extra power supply, carrying case, and headphones which I was planning on buying anyway so this works out great.

Critique away!

Rob

 

That is almost the exact same way I got my config (26% off M17x). *high five*

 

I got a couple of PMs asking for my rep's email. I sent him an email just to make sure this was okay by him. I couldn't imagine him turning down folks ready to buy Alienware Laptops, even if with reduced profit, but out of courtesy, I thought it was best to proceed this way. The automated reply said he would be back in his office at 10am on Monday June 18th, so I don't expect to hear back til then. I will return the PMs though when I hear back from him.

 

Thx figured as much its cool I can wait till then best to ask first.

 

Good job. Reading this post, if you are patient, you will eventually find a rep willing to give you a really good discount. Especially ones which have helped someone else here. The g/c aren't as good as cash, but maybe Dell is more ok with those since they get your money at least. It'd be nice if some of the accessories were cheaper. I wouldn't mind having 2 more 24" screens I guess if I had to buy something. I still have some g/c credit from an earlier purchase.

 

I should say, also, that the rep that gave me a good deal was not found by a chance phone call. This is someone that Rev had contact me after I sent Rev a PM with a system build. So.... thanks to Rev as well.

 

Robininni, could I get the name and number of your rep?

 

I will only do so in a Private Message and you don't have enough posts for me to send you one. Get your post count to 5 first.

 

That sounds like an awesome deal! Just as an aside, from my findings $2743 seems about standard fare for the "stock" m18x with the 8gb ram and HDD upgrades?

Resellers start at $25XX for the base config. With their upgrades, $27XX seems about right if you wanted the 8gb ram and HDD.

So is it me, or does the dell retail store charge higher than resellers?

EDIT: I realise that Dell included next day shipping + an upgraded warranty for that price! Seems like if you are located in the USA, Dell is the way to get for the best priced alienware products.

 

I found that Powernotebooks.com and xoticpc.com sell for identical prices as Dell except they will discount 3% if you pay cash. I don't think they will touch the deals Dell will give although they will brag about you saving sales tax if you purchase from them (which is nice, but nothing they are doing for you---they are just taking a natural phenomenon and acting like they are helping you out). Remember, Dell doesn't get your tax money... Texas does.

In looking at what I got for $2743 specifically, I think your 'stock' m18x and what I bought are quite different. I got the following:

I7 3820QM
Dual 7970m's
8 GM Ram
dual 500 GB Hdd's in Raid 0
Blu-Ray Reader
2 years advanced warranty
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit


I don't think you'll get any online retailers selling you what I got for the effective price of $2743. Dell only does it utilizing gift cards as a major portion of the 'discounts.' If you can show me some place online selling an m18x how I equipped it for even near what I effectively paid NOT including tax, I'd be floored to know about it.

Rob

 

What's the differents between raid 0 and raid 1 ?

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Raid 0 is striped where two hard drives (or more) store information of files spread out over the 2 or more drives. This give greatly increased speed or read/writes however it leaves you 2x (or more depending on how many hard drives you have in your raid 0 array) more vulnerable to data loss from hard drive failure because if one fails, all data in that array is lost.

Raid 1 is a mirrored configuration where one or more hard drives are mirror copies of each other always being update in real time. This provides no speed benefit, in fact, I think it causes a hit to write performance (not sure about reads) but you are super safe from hard drive failure because the odds of more than one drive failing at the same time as super slim. If one fails, you can just add a new hard drive to the array and the array gets "rebuilt" using the info from the good hard drive to copy to the new member of the array.

Hope this helps.

Rob

 

Ahhh ok thanks for the info I was wondering what the difference was

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

So i have been trying to order a M14x and have had no luck in them budging, even with a mere $50 off or even Next day shipping.

I am looking at $1361.93 for the system and $1481.91 after tax with 2 day shipping
system specs are
3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM
6GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz
14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
1 GB DDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M with Optimus™
500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Killer Wireless-N 1202 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0
1 Year Advanced Plan
AG2 Anti-Glare Screen Protector for Dell Alienware M14x Laptop

I am having a hard time getting them to budge down on the price
they have offered me to give me a Xbox 360 and a 75 dollar gift card, should i just take the deal and run. Technically they are offering $275 or 18% off the laptop if i count the xbox and gift card. Anybody have some tips? Either way i do plan on selling the xbox and using that towards a SSD.

 

Well, you **are** talking about a configuration that is less than 1/2 to almost 1/3 of the configuration price of what people are getting $200 GC, plus 5% GC, plus $100-200 off of. I would say getting a $375 value of discounts is good for a $1400 laptop. You might try to get a $200 GC instead of an xbox. I thought that's how Dell did it anyway and then you could buy the xbox off of the Dell site.

Just my thoughts.

 

Okay, I thought I would update everyone on my latest deal. As I said in another thread, I did cancel the system I quoted above because I became scared of the no driver situation with the Crossfire 7970m's. Most seemed to indicate that nVidia is much better about driver support and I knew the 680m was due out any day. So.... I order another system, this time with 680m's in SLI and I increased the RAM from 8 to 16 GB. Here's how I did:

$4337 configured price with no discounts of any kind
-$250 discount on m18x with dual 500gb Hdds, 8 GB ram, and blu-ray reader
-$50 discount from promo code
-$293 cash discount off of subtotal as worked out with rep
-$89 for a free upgrade of 2 year basic to 2 year advanced warranty
-$200 (in the form of a Dell Gift card)
-$183 (in the form of a 5% Dell Gift card)
=$3272 (and free NBD shipping)
Tax will be $301

$1065 in discounts of one form or another
$1065/4337= 24.55% off

So really, an identical deal as far a percentages. I would say with Alienware, at least m18x's, you should shoot for 25% off!

 

That's a pretty darn good deal! I'll be haggling with them in a few weeks and I hope I can get a good deal like that.

 

Thanks for all the information in this thread, I'm sure it will come in handy once I get around to calling in my new order. I'm so excited I can't wait to pull the trigger on my new Alienware.

 

Wow, this thread is really useful. I do wonder, what are the numbers you guys call for these deals? Is it the number on the top right hand corner of Alienware Deals
?

I also have a question regarding taxes, how does it work? I'm from Singapore (in south east Asia) interested in the M18x.

And lastly, how do you guys negotiate these bargains? They throw them in for you or do you have what you want in mind and ask them to give discount on upgrades?

Thanks in advance for your answers

 

If I'm not mistaken all of these discouns are by USA reps so I'm sure that it wouldn't help you with all the export tax and what not right?

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Thanks evo

Hmm.... right, then I'll just have to buy it late August. I'll be doing an exchange at Minnesota then. Will it also include those student discounts / xbox 360?

 

Not sure on the student discount/Xbox 360

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Wow really happy with my first ever sales rep. Ive purchased a ton of Laptops from Dell/AW but never once called in because I had no idea there were such hidden discounts. In any case, my first rep "Laura" was great. I went ahead and told her exactly what I wanted, and what my budget was and she said give her a few minutes, figured out how to make it work and wallah. I ordered an M14x with a few bells and whistles and got $200 off (of the 1500+ I had listed in my cart), then I got the $200 gift card, a 5% total order gift card, free 2nd say shipping (cuz of the advantage card) and a free m14x neoprene sleeve. She also upgraded my 650m to 2gb for free even though I only asked for the 1gb. Pretty happy overall.

Edit:

Well after noticing my order was 'canceled' she called me back and told me she entered the wrong CITY in my billing address, so they cancelled the order. For my trouble, she credited me 50 bucks off the order, so all in all this is a pretty great day! Cant wait for my M14x R2 !!!

 

Just finished ordering a little while ago - wish I'd known about this forum before hand - not sure if it would have been a better deal or not if I had known but here's what I ended up getting:

m18x
i7-3610QM
16GB 1600MHz RAM
Dual 2GB GTX 680M SLI
1TB RAID 0 (2x500GB) 7200RPM
Slot Load Blu Ray Reader
Killer Wireless-N 1103

Free next day shipping
$200 Gift card
5% Gift card

Total: $3195
With MA sales tax: $3394
How'd I make out?

All I did was call up, spoke with Sarah D, told her what I was looking to pay, asked for the two gift cards and next day shipping for free. Opened up a Dell Preferred line and they beat my price target by a few bucks.

 

I've been lurking for a while and have been looking at this particular configuration for an M18x r2 on the Alienware site:

PROCESSOR 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3820QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows® 7 Professional, 64bit edit
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz edit
HARD DRIVE 1TB RAID 0 (2x 500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200 RPM) edit
VIDEO CARD Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - SLI® Enabled edit
WIRELESS + BLUETOOTH Killer™ Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO for Gaming & Video and Bluetooth 4.0 edit
My Software & Accessories
COLOR Space Black Anodized Aluminum edit
ALIENFX COLOR Quasar Blue edit
My Accessories
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 3 Year Advanced Plan edit
SECURITY SOFTWARE No Anti-Virus Software Selected edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
SOUND OPTIONS Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di with THX TruStudio Pro Software
LCD PANEL 18.4 inch (467.36 mm) WLED WideFHD (1080p) display (1920 X 1080)

The price I currently have (including EPP) is $3564.26.

I'm looking for advice on how to drive that price down, and any configuration changes I should consider before I contact AW/Dell to order up. Thoughts?

 

1) Start your order with the basic warranty info.
2) Start the conversation by saying you intend to buy today, but your maximum price is, say 3350.
3) Once they've worked on that and you can come to an arrangement state that you're aware they offer a $200 Dell Card and a 5% Dell card and you would like both and that if they throw in free next day shipping you'll buy it right now.
4) Mention that you might be willing to upgrade to 3 year warranty if they could take a few bucks off of it.
4) Buy your snazzy new laptop.

That is how I did it sans the warranty but I was not aware of this forum at the time. Now that I'm a member I would do this:
1) Make at least 5 posts. Wait for your account to update and allow private messages on the forum.
2) While waiting go to http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/669327-alienware-sales-assistance-thread-redux.html
3) Read up on the thread - put together a rough draft of what you are looking to get hardware wise
4) Once your account is pm enabled send a pm to one of the reps in the thread and ask for a quote
5) Enjoy!

 

That sounds like good advice to start, thank you!

 

Man, I'm pretty bad at this. Got a decent enough deal, but I just couldn't get that $200 gift card out of them.

 

The 200 card is a student discount reward I believe. It can be tough sometimes to get that one out of them if you are not a student or ordering 3k or more in sales.

Also - even if they DO say they will give you those things check your preliminary invoice. The 5% card will show up as:

A5750525 1 Your Dell Advantage benefits have been applied

On my invoice even though I was promised the $200 card it is still not there - so I've no idea what that one should look like on the invoice. I'm now unable to get my original agent on the phone and have not yet received an email response from her. I'm dealing with another tech now trying to go back and forth.

So in a word: VIGILANCE!!

Also - Starborn - I'm not sure what you got since I don't see any sig on your post, but in that case what I would have done in your place would be to call, build up the entire order, when they get to the credit card part give them the credit card number, then give them the month, then stop.

"Uhhh.. you know what, now that I think about it many other people seem to have no problem getting the $200 gift card. I think I'm going to pass on this purchase. Thank you for helping me though."

If they don't offer you the card wait for them to say "Thank you for shopping Dell," then hang up.

Give them a day to call back. If they don't, then you call back and start with a different rep.

 

@Tyros

Please post your deal when you've made payment I'm also interested in a m18

 

No doubt you are right, but I'm just not much of a haggler and I also didn't want to seem to be taking too much advantage of the system Rev and Rachid have set up. I'm not complaining, just wondering if I could have done better, that's all.

 

I was wondering if these tactics work for non us dell locations ...I recently moved to Japan and I was planning to order an m18x through alienware Japan...the configuration I have is about 550,000 yen and i would really like some discounts to knock the price down. Its difficult as it is because of he language barrier but does anyone know if its worth my time trying?

Sent from my using gurlllllltalk

 

Most discounts are a mix of min/max salesmanship on the Dell end and social engineering on your end. I've no idea what buttons you'd want to push through Alienware Japan. If it were me I would find someone who is bilingual and understands how bargaining works culturally in Japan. Or, I would use the Alienware Sales Assistance thread to obtain a contact in that region who could help you.

Trying to buy it through the Japan office on your own I'd guess you will not get much of a 'discount.'

 

Can someone pm their sales rep info to me?
Trying to buy a 17x for as little as possible (due to my lowly e-1 private pay)

Gonna try to save some money here

 

Your best bet is to go here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/669327-alienware-sales-assistance-thread-redux.html

PM a rep in that thread with your shopping list. Be sure to mention you are active duty as Dell does offer military discounts.

 

Are there any Dell Reps from the UK on here?

 

please see the thread listed above;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...s-assistance-thread-redux-21.html#post8659490

 

For the UK version of the Alienware Sales Assistance thread go here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-aw-system-accessories-please-contribute.html

 

PM'ed a few people sales rep info. Gimme dat rep

 

Ordered a m17x and ended up with
7970 card, 8gb ram 1600mhz, 1080 screen, 3610 prossecor, 750 gb HDD with 32 gb cache drive, 2 day ship, and a 1 year advance warranty.
$1864.02
Total savings of $283.04 (military, price match, and some other small things)
Idk maybe I should have haggled a bit more, but I made the mistake of rushing myself since I had to report to my platoon sgt suddenly.

 

Idk how to give rep on my taptalk app

 

Is it possible to cancel your order without any fees?

 

yes, you can.

 

You can cancel your order as long as its not building I believe. The only downside is sometimes the credit card puts a hold on that amount for a few days.

 

You can't on the tapatalk app it sucks as i don't have a computer right now so I can't thank people at the moment

Sent From My Rooted EVO 3D

 

Hi all,

For the below specs, I got quoted for USD 1424 before taxes. Only managed to get the 5% gift card and also Next day shipping and also 2% off. Is this a good deal or I can do better?

3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3610QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.3GHz w/ Turbo
Boost 2.0)
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
English Keyboard, M14X R2
14.0" High Def+ (900p/1600x900) with WLED backlight
2 GB DDR5 NVIDIA GeForceGT 650M using NVIDIA Optimus technology
32G mSATA caching SSD
750GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
Alienware Command Center Software, M14X
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1, English, w/Media
Stealth Black with Soft Touch Finish
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner, DVD+-RW
Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
Killer Wireless-N 1202 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO for Gaming and Video and Bluetooth 4.0
Alienware M14X 150W A/C Adapter
Placement, M14X R2
Alienware Documentation
Shipping Material, M14X R2
NO VIRUS PROTECTION REQUESTED
Resource DVD, M14X R2
Windows 7 OS Label, Alienware Notebooks
DataSafe Local BackUp
PC Restore
DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
Camera Software 2.X, Factory Install
Dell Support Center Software 3.0
Quickset, M14X R2
63WHr 8-Cell Primary Battery
Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year
In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Parts and Labor On-Site Response, Initial Year
1 Year Limited Warranty
No Warranty, Year 2 and 3
Soft Contracts Dell In-Home Hardware Agreement for Alienware
Warranty Support, Initial Year
No Wireless HD Selected
Standard Nameplate, M14X

 

$1454 <--Standard Current Price
$30 <--Less 2%
------
$1424 <--Your Price
$73 <--Less Your Gift Card
$25 <--Less Next Day Shipping
------
$1326 <--Your actual price after discounts and rewards

$128 <--Your total 'savings' from standard price

I'd say you didn't do too badly. You have to keep in mind that the less expensive the starting price is the less room there is for discounts & haggling.

 

I got nearly the same system (minus the mSata and Killer wireless) but with 16 gb 1600mhz ram for roughly $1,200.00 after taxes and fees. Sadly, I'll have to return it.

 

Just a heads up. OblastSRT4's Dell rep was indeed pure gold.

I tried Rev's group, and the guy who called back was like, 'Its already on sale, we can do nothing for you.' (well nothing more than what I could do on my own w/dell coupon). I countered with prices I had seen posted on the forum and still no joy. Made me think unhappy thoughts for sure.

Called her and said I need "X" price. She came back with a slightly lower price then what I asked for in 2 min after talking to her manager.

As an aside, apparently the rep's manager is the approver of discounts. So you may want to make sure the manager who normally approves for a rep is available. Not sure if it would make a difference in what they are willing/able to do, but it might.

 

Mind sharing that info. PM?

Sent from my SGH-T989